Movie Post 5

All The President's Men 

1.

There is quite a bit of knowledge that can be obtained about the United States from the scandal of Watergate for example what happens when campaign money is not regulated, the importance of journalism and the freedom of speech and of the press, as well as how the constitution works when put into action. The whole issue that came from Watergate was the fact that the campaign money for the reelection committee of President Nixon was being used for illegal purposes under the power of Nixon’s Attorney General John Mitchell. The story of Watergate helps to drive home the necessity of having regulations on campaign funds. And when any government is given too much power they will abuse it. Watergate is a considered to be a showcase of the ability of America to bounce back but also of how the people of America lost faith and trust in their government.

This story also illustrates the importance of the press, without Woodward and Bernstein this story would never have come to light. Through their dedicated searching, their hunt for the truth, that what really happened at Watergate was brought to light and the severity of the incident and what it meant for the country was observed. No one else was concerned with Watergate during the time because all of the law enforcement branches were told to stop looking into Watergate. This shocking idea that the law enforcement would not do their job and without these two men Nixon would have continued to be president shows the importance of the constitution.

This scandal also conveys how the constitution really does work because the attorney Leon Jaworski was able to subpoena the tapes that Nixon created of everything that was going on in the White House. Jaworski then used that evidence to start the ball rolling on impeaching Nixon, though, in the end, Nixon resigned before he could be impeached. It also shows how the government was able to fire all of the other Republicans involved in the scandal like John Mitchel, the assistant to the president Haldeman, and John Ehrlichman were all arrested. Watergate is an important story of the resilience and importance of the constitution and the ability of the government to have checks and balance makes it clear that the constitution and its envisioned purpose is effective.

2.

Some important historical context that I drew from my research was about Nixon’s presidency. Nixon’s personality and the traits that he possessed were really what culminated into his downfall. He was a suspicious, paranoid, and mean man who was also very selfish and arrogant. He considered everyone who was against his opinion a threat to “national security” (textbook). In addition,  “Public expectations”(textbook) were very high when Nixon came into office which put Nixon under quite a bit of pressure. But his power was limited by the Congress, Supreme Court, the media, and the parties. Especially since Nixon was a Republican and the majority of the Congress was Democratic. So to get around the legislature, and relieve this pressure, Nixon created a new hierarchy of command where “virtually all executive power became concentrated in the White House”(textbook). So basically, Nixon made it so that instead of all of the different branches of government operating separately they operated through him. For example, instead of the foreign affairs branch taking care of foreign affairs, Nixon took control of foreign affairs. So Nixon was basically taking control and bypassing agencies that he deemed too slow, disregarding the fact that the agencies were there to serve the people. Around this time is when Nixon started to become a solitary man and he began to break the law.

Back in the day of Woodward and Bernstein media was held to a higher standard than that of today's media.  It created a sense of national identity and community. Woodward and Bernstein would not write something, Woodward stated, unless there was “hard evidence”(c-span.org) for it. But in today’s media, there is so much news and most of it is not accurate that the media has been made to look untrustworthy. In an interview, Bob Woodward talked about how “sometimes we make mistakes but it’s done in good faith”(c-span.org). Woodward it's trying to express the idea that the media cannot be discounted because it is important and it’s trying to educate the people even though it is different now than it was back in 1972.

3.

If 20 more minutes could be added to the film I would suggest it be about the unraveling of Nixon’s presidency. Nixon’s name is not mentioned until the last couple of minutes of the movie and I think I would have liked to have seen how Nixon tried to save himself. At first, once it was found out that Mitchell was the executive of the secret fund, Nixon pleaded that he had nothing to do with the scandal. But once the tapes that Nixon made were found Nixon would not give them to the attorney Archibald Cox who he then actually fired. The public then forced Nixon to hire Jaworski who was able to subpoena the incriminating tapes from Nixon. And I would have liked to have seen how Nixon resigned before he could get impeached and the reaction of the public to this scandal.

I would also have enjoyed seeing what this story did in the careers of Woodward and Bernstein because this story made their careers. Woodward and Bernstein were actually two very different men. Woodward graduated from Yale and was in the army while Bernstein was a college dropout and they both had very different political views. I would like to have seen more of a growth in their relationship and if they ever worked together after Watergate and how the world responded to what they did. I also maybe would have liked to have some very straightforward discussion in the movie about how this affected people’s view on the importance of media and why media and freedom of speech are important.